Letter to the Editor: Centralia Levy Request Is Lazy

Centralia school administration lazily sent the highest possible tax increase without bothering to specify how it would actually be spent.

This is frustrating, because the whole point of the McCleary court case was to make the state cover the cost of education rather than local taxpayers.

The state stepped up big-time. The state used to send Centralia School District around $7,000 per student. Now they send over $10,000 per student. Of course, they paid for this by adding a new state tax on my home.

Not to worry, because the state was able to offer local taxpayers relief from paying for basic education just like the McCleary plaintiff’s wanted. So the state limited my local school property tax, and my local levy went down from $350 to $253. This tiny bit of tax relief was offset by the new state education tax levy going from $0 to $201.

Now the school district is pleading poverty and wants to jack my taxes back up to $470 — an 86 percent increase.

And for what? Because striking employees intimidated the school board to give unfunded 24 percent raises? The state provides $66,520 for each teacher’s salary, but the school board gives them an average of over $77,000. Meanwhile, enrollment declines and class sizes grow.

Is this what the levy is for? 

When they negotiate with the teachers this summer, will struggling families be taxed with this new tax to pay yet another five-figure raise for bully employees? The levy resolution doesn’t say what it will be used for, and the employees have proven they have first dibs on all money even if it causes the district overspend by $3.2 million per year.

The community should vote “no” on the Feb 11 levy. Make the school board go back to the drawing board and offer area residents a reasonable rate and a guarantee that money will be used for the things they put in their slick marketing literature.

Gerrit Shilman

Centralia